


Outlier

by AntipodesAnnie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 02:23:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13871085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntipodesAnnie/pseuds/AntipodesAnnie
Summary: Not a fic per se, just a headcanon tying all of Erica Carroll's characters together.





	Outlier

Joe Johnson was a good man, anyone who knew him could tell you that. He worked hard at his job, it was a simple job but it was a good one, good enough to make a home for him and his wife. And he adored his wife, Caroline was everything to him. From the moment he met her at the hospital where she was a nurse in the ICU he loved her. She was kind and lovely, she was incredible with patients and she was so great with the kids. She had a devout faith, which he sometimes questioned. She would simply say “There are things Joe, I’ve seen them and you wouldn’t believe them, but I need something to help me understand”. He never fully understood, but she was so strong, and she loved him so much, it just didn’t matter.  And that was why is was so hard for him when she left.

“Left” is what the reports said. “Left” like it was something she chose to do, and if Joe knew Caroline like he thought he did, then “left” wasn’t what happened. “Gone”, yes. “”Disappeared”, closer. And god forbid, the worst of all “taken”. But not the simple voluntary “left”. Joe knew something had happened to his wife, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind and right until the very moment he tracked her down to her motel room in Montana he believed that with all his heart. Which broke in two at the sight of her.

And now, here he was standing in his own living room, a year after she disappeared, looking at his wife and wondering above all, what happened. What happened in between breakfast and lunch 12 months ago that made his devout, loving and above all, faithful wife leave him to face everything by himself. Caroline was home, and he was so glad she was, but he had questions, and those questions couldn’t wait any longer.

Caroline knew. She knew he had so many questions, the right to have them answered. But she was so very, very tired. She had been hostage to her own faith for a year and she was exhausted. Her guilt in leaving him, it felt like a betrayal and yet here he was, standing in front of her and all he had asked was if she was okay. For a year he had searched for her, thinking the worst, running and chasing her and now after all that, all he had wanted to know was if she was okay. Caroline owed him an explanation, she owed him her whole story. And if he still wanted her to stay, she would never leave again.

So Caroline sat. And she started to talk.

“Before we met, I was a nurse in Ford City, back home in Nebraska. One day these two boys came in, well more young men really. They had rescued these two little kids and the older one had gotten electrocuted in the process. He wasn’t going to make it, we all knew he wasn’t and the look on his brothers face when we told him. I’ll never forget that look, it was like we’d killed both of them. We crushed that kid, we knew he’d never recover from his brother’s death and we were just waiting. But when I arrived for my next shift, they were both gone. I was sure the brother had died, but he hadn’t. Apparently they just went into his room and he was gone. Just gone. Then a couple of days later another young guy came in, but he was dead on arrival. So many young men dying and I couldn’t understand why. You remember Granny Nell? You remember how religious she was? Well, all I could hear was her voice, and it was saying _“Carrie, you know there’s a reason for everything, God just hasn’t told us what it is yet”_ and I thought maybe God might have the answers, maybe I should talk to him. So I started going to church again. After that is when I moved to Fitchberg, there was a job going at the hospital there and it was a really good opportunity for me. I was only there for a week or so when all these little kids started coming down with this terrible virus. We had no idea what it was and then one day I was having my lunch at the playground and this young guy came and asked me what was happening. And Joe, so help me god Joe, I was sure it was the boy from Ford City. Both him and his brother, they came into the hospital and said they were from the CDC, but I just knew it was them. And then like it was a miracle, the kids got better, and the boys left. So twice now, people were dying and then all of a sudden not and these two boys are there. There was nothing in this world that could explain that. Nothing at all. And the only place I could get my answers from was God. And I prayed and prayed for answers and nothing, but I kept asking. So years pass, you and me and life and it’s was a good life Joe, I loved it. And I was so happy with my life, I was so sure of myself. And then I met Hannah. Hannah talked to me about my faith, told me I was good person and that she had a job for me. She told me that she had the answers to all of my questions, I was the only one that could help her and she needed me to say yes. Joe, you have to understand, I had been asking these questions for _years_ , and now someone was going to tell me the answers, my ego and my hubris took over and I thought an angel needs me, and angel chose me, GOD chose me, who am I to say no. Oh, did I mention Hannah was an angel? I probably should have mentioned that. Anyway I said yes. I told Hannah I would help her. I didn’t know that would mean her taking me over and taking me away from you. And I tried to get back Joe, I really did. But she was persuasive, she kept telling me how much I was needed. So I stayed. And I got the answers. I got so many answers to questions I didn’t even ask. And those two boys, I found out their names and who they were, oh she did not like them. There was no joy in what I learnt, I’ll never get over what I saw Joe, what Hannah got me to do, and I will regret saying yes to her for the rest of my life. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, but when you showed up in Montana it was like every last ounce of me, was screaming at Hannah to let me go. I had nothing left. And then all of a sudden Hannah was gone and it was just me.  I was standing on a bridge talking to that man you met and he was offering to bring me home. And now I only have one question Joe. Just one”

“Can I come home?”


End file.
